All you Need is Depends and a Hose

I am not going to explain why I had some Depends laying around but I did so Nanue and the girls put them to good use.

Nanue's Sept. Visit

She helped out so much while she was here and we miss having her. We hope she come back soon and brings Big Papa. Here she is helping with bath time.

Mera is an amazingly happy baby.

The zoo has member mornings on Saturday and members can get in at 8am so we went and it happened to be enrichment day at the zoo so the keepers organized a bunch of activities for visitors to see.

Mera scoring some Nanue time...or is it the other way around.

Hey frog.

They wagon is our ride of choice for the zoo lately.

Mera catching a nap in the Ergo.

Darby watching the snow leopard eat blood Popsicles.



There was a tree set out for the giraffe to eat.

Baby Bottom

D-Rae's 1st Day of School

She didn't save the apple for her teacher.

Hats

Matt's Aunt Kristine made these adorable hats for the girls.

All Smiles at 7-Weeks

Before we forget

From Gleason: This weekend, when the grandparents couldn't make it to Tulsa, Darby was trying to wrap her sharp little brain around it on the way to the zoo. That's when she said from the backseat of the car, "If Nanue and Big Papa don't come, I'll pull your pants down."
And...
Georgia realized she could touch her tongue to her gums. Proudly, she said, "Look Mama, I can touch my lungs."

Am I Crazy?

I let the 2 big kids get the paint out last week while I tried to make dinner and hold Mera. Luckily it was warm enough they could hose each other off before coming in the house. There was only a small hand print of blue paint found in the house later.

Pete and Pam Came to Visit

Can you believe everyone is looking at the camera, even Mera.

Darby

I have had a great week with Darby. We have spent some real quality time together while sister is in school and she is out (for another week I'd add). When I first had G I thought she was difficult and "spirited" so I started to read "Raising Your Spirited Child." Well I pretty quickly decided she was not spirited. I think I should give the book another try though because Darby is definitely spirited. She has no less than 5 melt-downs a day, which G never had, and if you don't make her eat every 2 hours you better get out your stun gun.

There is a scene in "The Lost Boys" where a little kid turns into a vampire and comes flying out from behind a door with his teeth showing and his hair standing on end and one of the vampire fighters, maybe Cory Feldman, says "It's the return of Eddie Munster!" Matt and I have come to know when a fit is approaching and will turn to each other and say just that. The resemblance between Darby and that little vampire kid is eerie.

But here are some pictures of her being sweet. Here she is nursing her baby.

And loving on baby sister.

If you ask Darby her sister's name she says Flower Mera Jane.

So Much for Naps

And I am talking about myself, not the girls. They are widening the road we live on and it has made it really hard to nap due to the rumble of heavy equipment up and down the street all day. I also get woken early because my German Shepard loves to bark as the crews arrive for the day between 6 and 7. The project is supposed to take about 5 months but I don't see that happening. The crew decided to burn all the trees they tore down instead of haul them off so all along the road there are piles of burning brush. Coming home is like entering a scene from The Road Warrior.

Needless to say, I am not a fan of any of this, especially the burning. There used to be trees clear up to the road and now it will just be naked.

I might add it is Saturday and I was so excited about sleeping in but alas, PSO is out there right now with two giant trucks rumbling away. Maybe these guys take Sunday off.

JBF Aftermath

Every six months Tulsa has a giant consignment sale called "Just Between Friends." Because my husband does what he does, we usually get a few media passes and are allowed into the sale before the general public. I am not a big shopper but I love this sale and always get my money out. It is probably the only time I spend money on the girls (thanks to Nanue and G-mama). So last weekend I went and found some great stuff.

Georgia got a new nap mat for her new school and when we went to get her up Sunday morning she had sneaked it in her room and slept on it on the floor all night.

I was also lucky to find some great dress-up clothes as well as some tap and ballet shoes, which the girls have wanted for a long time now.

G now can be about 6 different princesses.

I am also always on the lookout for bags of bows and I indeed found a couple that were reasonable priced. G did her own hair in this one.

And my favorite was this princess piano. Georgia loves it and dances and sings to it. She has also almost killed her sister over it a couple on times.

First Day of Pre-K

She is off to school, 5 days a week. I haven't cried yet!

My partners in crime from now on.

Before I forget

From Matt Gleason: The other night, I came home from work exhausted. I just wanted to lay down on the couch before I took on my parental duties from Virginia, who is more exhausted usually than I will ever be. Anyway, the girls didn't take kindly to me lounging with my eyes closed, so they descended upon the couch like something out of Planet of the Apes. After the invasion, Darby told me to open my eyes, so I did, then she grabbed the sides of my face, like I would her to make a point about not hitting Georgia -- Again. Then she said, "Daddy. I want to bother you." At least she's honest.

Night night with D-Rae

From Matt Gleason: Sometimes, Darby just isn't tired when I put her to bed, so she gets, shall we say, creative when it comes to devising ways to get a bit more Daddy Time after I'm off reading about home runs or the status of some running back's sprained ankle. Tonight, Darby alerted me to her not-so-tiredness by hollering from her crib, and down the hall: "Daaaaaaddddddddeeeeeeeee! DAAAAADDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! DADDY!!! I. HAVE. SNOT!" She did, in fact, have snot, not much, but there it was, so I wiped it. Soon after, as I checked on my dorky fantasy teams, Darby once again got to hollerin'. I looked at Virginia, and, together, we decided to give Darby one more visit. I went in. This time, Darby told me she was scared of monsters. That's a new one. Thankfully, Darby has gotten over her fear of monkeys, so now she's apparently onto monsters. I assured D there was no such thing, while feeling very much like my father. Then I told her I would protect her from such horrible things, even if they did exist. I'm very tough and macho when it comes to battling all imaginary creatures. Eventually, I was just a few kisses away from heading back to the computer, when Darby tried one last attempt to prolong the visit. "Daddy, raccoons scare me." That kid melts me. I told her raccoons live outside and, actually, at the aquarium, too. So Tuesday night, when the aquarium stays open until 9 p.m., me and the Gleason girls will go see the object of Darby's great fear and maybe watch it eat carrots.

Finding a Rhythm

We are slowly adjusting to life with 3 girls. I will say, without trying to sound down on my other 2, this baby is a dream. I don't know if I am just more relaxed or better at parenting, but Mera is so pleasant to be with and care for. My only problem with her a this point is she won't sleep at night if she is not next to me. I can live with that right now. Once her sleep patterns get more regulated we can work on getting her out of my bed and into her co-sleeper next to my bed. At this point I am just allowing myself to enjoy it since she is my last baby.

In the evenings she naps in her Ergo most of the time. I used a ring sling with G and a Moby with D and I am now loving the Ergo. We still use the ring sling when out at the store and such but the Ergo is great for naps at home. Here she is with her little arm hanging out.

We gave her her first bath this week even though her umbilical cord has been off for a couple of weeks. It has not been a huge priority. So here are her first bath pics.



And just for comparison, here is Darby's first bath.

And Georgia's first bath. I'd say we got our moneys worth out of the tub.

Mera already has great head control.

And G got to help give her a bath on Thursday night.

Such a great big sister.

All smiles.

And this is her this morning after she has successfully escaped the swaddle.

3-month Hearing Check

Just to update, G had a hearing test last week and there has been no significant change in the last 3-months so that is really good news. Also, Mera passed her newborn hearing screening.